- AM in Social Work, Social Policy and Social Administration, University of Chicago
- PhD in Early childhood/Special Education, University of Illinois
- MEd in Special Education, University of Missouri
- BS in Elementary and Special Education, University of Kansas
- Early intervention with infants and families, with special emphasis on high-risk children in hospital settings
- Teacher and caregivers education about brain development
- Supporting the parents of fussy babies
- Implementing the Fussy Baby Network Approach
- Infant Crying and Developmental Outcome: A Biobehavioral Approach
- Fussy Baby Network®
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Recent Publications
- In Press – Cosgrove, K., Gilkerson, L., Levition, A., Mueller, M., Norris-Shortle, C., & Gouvea, M. (in press). Building Professional Capacity to Strengthen Parent/Professional Relationshi[s in Early Intervention: The FAN Approach. Infants and Young Children.
- 2018 – Cole-Mossman, J., Crnkovich, E., Gendler, L., & Gilkerson, L. (2018). Reducing Judicial Stress through Reflective Practice. Court Review, 54(2), 90-94.
- 2018 – Pryce, J.M., Gilkerson, L., Barry, J.B. (2018) The Mentoring FAN: A Promising Approach to Enhancing Attunement within the Mentoring System, Journal of Social Service Research, 44:3, 350-364, DOI:10.1080/01488376.2018.1472174
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Recent Presentations
- Supervision and Mentorship: Powerful Training Tools for Infant/Family Practice. Zero to Three Forum for Educators and Trainers of Infants/Family Personnel. Washington, D.C., with Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok, July 1994.
- The Modeling Role of Professionals and Mentorship. Ohio Early Childhood Special Education, Higher Education Consortium, Oregon, OH.
- Reflections on the Implementation of Developmental Care.”Arizona Developmental Insights Conference, Phoenix, AZ, May 1994.
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Related professional experience
- 2001: Visiting scholar, University of California San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry, Child Trauma Research Program
- 1985-92: Director, Infant Care Program, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Behavioral and Developmental Pediatrics, Evanston Hospital, Evanston, IL; Senior Consultant, Infant Care Program, Department of Pediatrics, Evanston Hospital
- 1981-86 Assistant and Associate Professor, Wheelock College, Graduate School, Boston Coordinator, Early Intervention Master’s Degree Program; Co-Director, Birth to Seven Training Grant, OSERS Personnel Preparation Project Grant
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An expert in supporting families with infants — particularly fussy ones — Linda Gilkerson, PhD, LCSW, likes to joke that she entered the early childhood field on the day she was born.
“I was one of those fussy babies,” she says. “Then, years later, I had a fussy baby of my own.”
Her longstanding interest in babies and the earliest stages of life has driven her work to spearhead numerous initiatives throughout her career designed to support families that have recently welcomed newborns into their lives. Since joining Erikson in 1986, she has served as a professor, director of the Irving B. Harris Infant Studies Program, and executive director of the Fussy Baby Network®, Erikson’s first clinical program.
Dr. Gilkerson established Fussy Baby in 2003 as a way to help parents whose infants struggle with issues including excessive crying and difficulty sleeping or eating. Around the same time, she also developed a model for interacting with families known as the FAN (Facilitating Attuned Interactions), which is at the root of the direct service work Fussy Baby does through its home visiting and “warm line” phone service components.
“Like everything at Erikson, the FAN is theory-based,” she says. “In this case, it’s the concept of attunement in relationships. Establishing a feeling of connection helps open the door to changes that can improve families’ lives.”
Fussy Baby and the use of the FAN method have expanded since Dr. Gilkerson established them. Today, Fussy Baby has partner programs in 10 other states and two other countries, while Dr. Gilkerson travels around the country conducting training sessions for medical professionals and mental health practitioners who work with children and families, helping them understand the FAN approach and how they can incorporate it into their own work.
“Whether it’s a doctor, home visitor, youth mentor — they all say that when they understand and use the FAN method, they are calmer in stressful situations, they are more collaborative in their work, and they feel less pressure to come up with quick fixes to problems, enabling them to partner with families to come up with solutions that are more likely to work for them,” Dr. Gilkerson says.
Her work has earned her an international reputation as a leading expert on infant mental health. She has conducted FAN trainings in New Zealand and Israel, and she has served as a keynote speaker at global conferences such as the National Institute on Infant Mental Health conference in Toronto.
In 2017, the Bright Promises Foundation presented Dr. Gilkerson with its Lifetime Achievement Award for her work, noting her “pioneering contributions in promoting a focus on social-emotional developmental and reflective supervision within both the health and early intervention systems.”